I remember when I was in 8th grade (at the risk of sounding
old, it was in the late 70's), my science teacher (who said
repeatedly that he worked on a team that developed the
heat-seeking missile) said that one
day "soon", we'd have newspapers that were really "computer
readouts" that we could fold or roll up, and put in our
pockets. I'm still waiting!
But... we're one
step closer... HP seems to have come up with a low-cost way
to generate a flexible display. It won't be long
now...
 HP
and Arizona State announces the first Flexible Display
Prototype
Lots of research time, effort and money is going into
products that could make revolutionary changes in the
electronic products in use around the world. So many
products today take advantage of displays from cell phones
and computers to refrigerators and even outdoor grills that
the market for displays is large and varied.
HP and
Arizona State University have teamed up to develop a
flexible display at the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at the
university. Today the FDC announced that it has developed
the first prototype of an affordable, flexible electronic
display.
The flexible display is paper-like, but
constructed totally out of plastic. The plastic construction
allows the display to be easily portable and consume less
power than typical displays available today. Potential uses
for the new flexible display according to the FDC are in
electronic paper and digital signage.
The technology
could also make its way into future electronic devices like
smartphones and notebook computers. The displays are claimed
to be unbreakable and use up to 90% less materials by volume
when compared to traditional LCD displays.
HP and the
FDC created the flexible displays by using self-aligned
imprint lithography (SAIL) technology that was invented by
HP Labs. HP says SAIL technology is considered self aligned
because the pattering information is imprinted on the
substrate in a way that perfect alignment is maintained
regardless of distortion.
Displays built using SAIL
technology can be fabricated on thin film transistors on
flexible plastic material in a roll-to-roll manufacturing
process. This allows for continuous manufacturing rather
than batch manufacturing used to create current displays.
Source:
http://www.dailytech.com/Cheap+Flexible+Display+Prototype+Unveiled+by+HP+and+Arizona+State/article13621.htm
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